Joseph McCarthy’s ‘Wheeling Speech’: Why it’s still important

Posted  February, 2018 by Bob Livingston

“The great difference between our western Christian world and the atheistic Communist world is not political, gentlemen, it is moral. For instance, the Marxian idea of confiscating the land and factories and running the entire economy as a single enterprise is momentous,” said Joseph McCarthy on February 9, 1950, in a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia.  And thus began an era in American history that came to be known as McCarthyism, but which could more properly be termed the sellout of American interests by the political class and the Deep State.

McCarthy continued:

Likewise, Lenin’s invention of the one-party police state as a way to make Marx’s idea work is hardly less momentous.

Stalin’s resolute putting across of these two ideas, of course, did much to divide the world. With only these differences, however, the east and the west could most certainly still live in peace.

The real, basic difference, however, lies in the religion of immoralism . . . invented by Marx, preached feverishly by Lenin, and carried to unimaginable extremes by Stalin. This religion of immoralism, if the Red half of the world triumphs—and well it may, gentlemen—this religion of immoralism will more deeply wound and damage mankind than any conceivable economic or political system.

Karl Marx dismissed God as a hoax, and Lenin and Stalin have added in clear-cut, unmistakable language their resolve that no nation, no people who believe in a god, can exist side by side with their communistic state.

Karl Marx, for example, expelled people from his Communist Party for mentioning such things as love, justice, humanity or morality. He called this “soulful ravings” and “sloppy sentimentality.” . . .

Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity. The modern champions of communism have selected this as the time, and ladies and gentlemen, the chips are down—they are truly down.

McCarthy was a patriot who was concerned about the hundreds of subversives within the U.S. government seeking the soft overthrow of the country, not the grandstanding headline-seeker and bomb-thrower who saw communists where none existed, as conventional wisdom would have you believe. In fact, court historians continue to paint McCarthy in a false light.

Take this passage from History.com, for instance:

Despite McCarthy’s inconsistency, his refusal to provide any of the names of the “known communists,” and his inability to produce any coherent or reasonable evidence, his charges struck a chord with the American people… “McCarthyism,” as the hunt for communists in the United States came to be known during the 1950s, did untold damage to many people’s lives and careers, had a muzzling effect on domestic debate on Cold War issues, and managed to scare millions of Americans. McCarthy, however, located no communists and his personal power collapsed in 1954 when he accused the Army of coddling known communists. Televised hearings of his investigation into the U.S. Army let the American people see his bullying tactics and lack of credibility in full view for the first time, and he quickly lost support. The U.S. Senate censured him shortly thereafter and he died in 1957.

That is far from accurate. McCarthy had been presented with an FBI report months before his speech that outlined detailed and extensive penetration of the State Department by communists. And later, a list of no fewer than 50 communists and/or Soviet agents were named by McCarthy; his aides; or before his committee; were outed in sworn testimony; revealed in FBI archives or other security records; or took the 5th Amendment during hearings when asked about matters that tied them to the Soviets. Several of them later absconded to communist China or the Soviet Union after McCarthy’s hearings began.

In his magnum opus written in the aftermath of World War II but not published until 2011 under the title, “Freedom Betrayed,” President Herbert Hoover named in chapters 4 and 5 the 50 communists in government referenced above, along with a host of others, including some of those in the armed services at the time Republicans were trying to silence McCarthy in order to appease President Dwight Eisenhower.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s State Department was overrun with communists who were influencing his dealings with Josef Stalin during WWII, which likely explains why he so willingly ceded half of Europe to the demon of communism at Yalta.

America remains under a heavy communist influence, as I will explain in a column I’m writing for Monday publication. McCarthy was right. He’s been vindicated, even if the court historians teach something different.

As I’ve said before, next time someone accuses  you of McCarthyism, thank him. McCarthy was right about the communists all along.

He was also right when he said, “…this religion of immoralism will more deeply wound and damage mankind than any conceivable economic or political system.” Just look around and see for yourself.

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